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Beads Make Great Pots of Flowers!

Beads can make wonderful pots of flowers or vases. Your bead pots/vases can be the color of your choice, size and shape. Beads with wider holes will hold more flowers and leaves.

I glue a punched round shape on the bottom of the bead. I think it looks more finished and makes the bead sit straighter. I try to match the bead color. You don’t have to, but I like the finish.

Push a cylinder of brown clay into each bead opening. It can be any type of clay – Sculpey, Air Dry Clay, etc. Don’t bake. The clay will hold your flowers and leaves in place. Sprinkle a few coffee grounds over the clay for a more “dirt” like appearance.

Punch out leaves with whatever leaf punches you like. I like a variety of leaves. You can paint paper green to punch out leaves. I like colored paper because you don’t have the white edges. Place leaves on the mouse pad. Use a small, sharp stylus to vein your leaves. Use a larger stylus to lightly run over the leaves to shape. The shaped, veined leaves are on the right of this photo. Small wires (on the right of the leaves photo) will be used for flowers. Dip the end of your flower wires in the paint of your choice for the center of your flower. When dry, dip again. Stick your dipped wires in a bit of Styrofoam to dry.

Place your flower petals on the mouse pad. With a needle or sharp tweezers, poke a hole in the center of each petal cluster. Use the larger stylus to give the petals shape. I put three petal clusters on each wire (dipped wire). Thread the smallest petal cluster onto the wire. Put a little craft glue around the hole and pull up to the top. When positioned, gently squeeze the cluster. Move the second cluster up into position, just like the first. Rotate the second cluster, so the petals are placed next to the first group. Squeeze gently and use your tweezers to flutter the petals. For the third group of petals, I move them up like the other two groups - but upside down. (see photo) I run the last group of petals up upside down because I think it gives the flower more dimension.

Now for the fun part! I like to place three flower stems in a pot. I use a wire cutter to clip the stem to the height I want. I want the three stems slightly different heights. I give each stem a slight bend. I “plant” the stems in a triangle design in the pot. I dip the bottom of each stem in a bit a glue before I plant. Hold each stem with a tweezer and “plant” in your pot.

Add leaves in the empty spots – maybe three or four leaves. The leaves can be glued to the flower stems or on the pot. If you like the look of a long strand of leaves, place two or three wires in your pot and glue leaves to the wires.

I’ll give away two pairs of pots. (top photo) Please let me know which you would like – purple flowers/gold bead or pink flowers/silver bead. Email me if you would like to be in the drawing – Jane Sanem – janeannsanem@gmail.com. I’ll randomly pick two winners. Please contact me by June 22nd.

If you have questions or suggestions for future projects – please email me. I hope you enjoyed the project.